Dexia Seeks to Sell Denizbank to Sberbank

Struggling lender Dexia SA said it is in exclusive talks to sell its Turkish Denizbank AS unit to Russia's biggest bank, OAO Sberbank, as the Belgian-French bank continues to sell assets to shore up its balance sheet, The Wall Street Journal reported. No financial information was disclosed, but a person familiar with the talks said a deal could be worth between $3 billion and $4 billion and be "the biggest in Sberbank's history." The details are to be ironed out in the next two weeks, the person added. State-controlled Sberbank is Russia's oldest and largest bank. If completed, the acquisition would be its second purchase outside the former Soviet Union. In February, it bought Volksbank International, which operates in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia and Ukraine. Dexia came close to collapse in October because of its reliance on short-term funding and is now being broken up under a plan initiated by the French and Belgian governments. Denizbank, which it has owned since 2006, is considered one of the lender's best assets, and its sale would mark a major step in the breakup plan. Many other banks in Western Europe, hit by worries about the euro zone and facing stricter capital requirements, also are retrenching and seeking to sell assets. Read more. (Subscription required.)